And so, for the first time, did the rest of us, with the Nassau County district attorney's office providing more than 150 pages detailing a horrific litany of crimes that occurred in computer classes taught by Friedman's father, Arnold, in the family's Great Neck home.

Boys found themselves sexually assaulted by father and son and terrorized into silence, with the younger Friedman threatening to kill parents and burn down boys' homes, according to the review.

Ultimately, some of the children did speak. Among them were boys, from ages 8 to 15, who gave statements about being forced to perform sex acts on the Friedmans and on each other.

Friedman pleaded guilty, confessing to his crimes in 1988. And he's done his time. But he's also gone on to convince a team of filmmakers and others of his innocence.

Last week, Friedman's attorney, Ron Kuby of Manhattan, sparred with a representative from the Nassau DA's office over whether Friedman had -- as indicated in the review -- possessed pornographic material while in prison.

The hearing was part of Friedman's decade-long effort at vindication. Friedman is asking Supreme Court Justice Dana Winslow to release the original case file and grand jury minutes, which, Kuby said, he is entitled to see.

Still, the conclusion of the review by District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office -- bolstered by an independent advisory panel that included Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project -- is difficult to simply push aside.

"Our feeling is one of outrage that we still have to deal with this and bring this up and having to relive this 27 years later," one victim's mother told Newsday. " . . . I do consider what has been going on a harassment of the victims."